


Some Kind of Cyberpunk

by MildlyMandy626



Series: Some Kind of Cyberpunk [1]
Category: Digimon - All Media Types, Yoroiden Samurai Troopers | Ronin Warriors
Genre: Fic takes place in 2012, Gen, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, LA is a WEIRD place, Much Needed Worldbuilding for Samurai Troopers, No one was supposed to know, Original Digimon Setting, Other, Reader input is welcomed, Retrotech, Shin Megami Tensei is inspired by real events in the Trooperverse, Tags are hints, Techno-Occult Body Horror, Technomystical bullshit, The events of Gaiden come back to bite everyone in the ass years later, There WILL be sidestories, What is data?, slow burn plot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 19:13:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28908396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MildlyMandy626/pseuds/MildlyMandy626
Summary: Twenty three years ago, Seiji Date was lured to America by an evil sorcerer and his mad scientist accomplice. His friends rescued him, but lost an ally in the process.It was years ago. It doesn't matter anymore. Then why is he having these strange dreams and fugues?There are multiple tunnels underneath Los Angeles. Most of these have been filled in or blocked up by the city over the past twenty something years, some for reasons more...weirder than others.They missed one.Some urban explorers find a hidden lab underneath Chinatown, and wake something up. A boy seeking to understand memories that aren't his. A warrior that seeks to carry out a last wish.To find the answers, they must look to an event that changed the world, and find how that has effected their own lives. A story that ended in blood years ago restarts...This story will be edited and patched over time. Do not expect each chapter to remain exactly the same.
Series: Some Kind of Cyberpunk [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2141346
Comments: 8
Kudos: 3





	1. Prelude: A Brief Recap of Events

**Author's Note:**

> This fic has been in the works since Samurai Troopers was rereleased on DVD a few years ago here. Gaiden brought up some interesting ideas, which then were validated by Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth. I've been hammering out the fic ever since, and I'm still ironing out details. Each chapter has image songs/music, which will be listed for you to look up on Youtube/NicoNico/whatever.
> 
> BGM: "Demon of Darkness", Asano Takumi, Devil Survivor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brief summary of the Samurai Troopers TV series and first OAV, Gaiden.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...how DOES the outside world view the events of the Yoroiden Samurai Troopers series? Given that the writers bent over _backwards_ to keep the main characters isolated from anyone outside of their group, this series _needed_ some outsider POV. Gaiden got me thinking...And then I played Digimon Story: Cybersleuth. Boom. Plot bunnies vindicated. 
> 
> I've been plotting out this story for close to five years. I'm still hammering out exact details. I use a playlist for outlining my fics, so each chapter will have respective music listed for you to look up on Youtube/NicoNico/whatever. Some songs are available for purchase on Amazon and iTunes, but for some stuff, you're going to need to import or open a Japanese iTunes account. Some music might be harder to find than others. 
> 
> Samurai Troopers is available streaming via Retrocrush. 
> 
> Chapter BGM: TV Recap: "Demon of Darkness", Asano Takami, Megami Ibunroku Devil Survivor  
> Gaiden Recap: "Mad Machine", Ohmori Kinuko, Bubblegum Crisis

Research Memo-Rough Draft 5/8/12

They call it the Shinjuku Incident. For several weeks in the summer of 1988, the city-state of Tokyo was apparently under attack by an otherworldly army. Eyewitness accounts describe the civilian population disappearing, armored beings attacking those who remained, and a complete power blackout that gradually spread beyond the Shinjuku district as the army of what could only be described as dead samurai advanced. While the JSDF and the US military intervened, they were ultimately unable to stop them. Technology failed to work. Tanks turned on themselves and exploded, and helicopters fell from the sky. Several battalions were stranded in the massive city, and most of them ultimately vanished without a trace. Those that survived, however, were in no shape to fight.

Even outside of the city, people were reporting strange events. The offices of a scholar from a local university collapsed, subsequent investigations showing that the building somehow _melted_. Landmarks across the country were either damaged or destroyed, in a trail that led out from Tokyo before slowly looping back to the city. The damage to the city alone has been argued to be a cause for the subsequent economic collapse that followed, let alone the regional effects. Fishing in the Naruto Strait didn't recover for two years, and the Akiyoshido caves were closed to tourists until they were deemed safe for entry.

The problem with the eyewitness accounts, however, is that they don't include many from the people of Tokyo. At one point, the citizens of the city reappeared, with no memory of whatever had happened to them. A great many of the accounts seem to be memories resurfacing as nightmares, or half remembered feelings of terror and pain, with the knowledge that these were being siphoned somehow. One account recalls the inability to sit through their child's school recital, as the sound of the flute solo filled them with 'sheer terror, and the feeling of being surrounded'. The narrator went on to note that several other people in the crowd looked to be having similar feelings, and more than a few had to leave for air.

What makes this worse? Several months later, this happened AGAIN, if not on as large of a scale as before. Once again, all attempts to intervene by the JDSF and the US military failed. More people were evacuated this time around, though. It ended as quickly as it began. Just as before, anything technological failed to work within the effected area. Cameras and radios taken inside the Zone were rendered useless, only to act as normal when removed. This was tested with devices that were both powered off and turned on during entry. 

In 1991, the UN held a conference on the subject. Closed office, no press. It took three years for the report to be released to the public. If it wasn't for the fact that the events played out in the public eye, it would have been considered a hoax. Magic was real. Japan had essentially come under attack by its own past, and mystic defenders rose to the occasion. Their names were redacted, though it was suspected that they came from old families with samurai lineage. The forums had a field day playing detective, until someone brought up the strange case of the New York Samurai Murders. Between the infamous response by the NYPD involving the use of an armed helicopter on armored figures, the trail of bodies, an armed invasion of a Chinatown restaurant by ninjas,and the fact that the person who took the only photograph of the killer ended up dead himself, the summer of '89 was pretty eventful for New York City. Add the crash of Sunrise Airlines 88 in the Potomac, and you had a series of events that was quickly connected to the Shinjuku Incident. Here's an account from a Usenet group that focused on the Shinjuku Incident:

 **I used to live in Harlem when I was little,** the post read. **It wasn't always easy, but I have nothing but fond memories of my family's apartment there. I had a crush on a girl from the neighborhood. I can't remember her last name, but she was named Luna. She was the neighborhood big sister, who helped us kids when we needed money for snacks, or walked us home from the bus stop. Once, she kept one of my friends from being mugged. I don't know what her family was like, other than that she looked up to her brother, who didn't live with their family. He was in one of the gangs back then, and New York back then was dangerous. This was back when Times Square was full of porn theaters and at least one place that sold kung fu stuff. We weren't allowed out after dark because of this.**

**Anyway, summer of 89. People suddenly start getting offed. Initially, cops don't give a shit, since it's mostly homeless people and gangbangers. Addicts. In short, people who they really don't see as people. But then there's a mass killing. One night, a whole crowd of people gets killed. And someone gets a picture of the perp. Someone in green samurai armor, with an absolutely massive greatsword. That was the night Luna's brother and his friends were killed. Luna got harder after that. A few days later, we had the Sunrise Airlines crash, which in retrospect is where shit starts getting really fucking weird, even for New York. The photographer that captured the Samurai Killer on film was found dead in his apartment. Apparently two people went to see him that day. A young Japanese man who didn't give his name (and conveniently disappeared afterwards), and a young woman that sounded an awful lot like Luna. That's when the NYPD responded to the Samurai Killer being sighted by sending an armed helicopter. Only in New York, man. They tried to gun down the guy and his friends in fucking public. Of course, later we found out that the guy flying that day was discharged from the Marines after the Shinjuku Incident. Apparently the guy was having flashbacks. Guy got kicked off the force afterwards, for obvious reasons. Given what we know now, this was an understandable response... Anyway, there were ninjas in Chinatown after that. Supposedly they kidnapped a restaurant owner and two tourists. Tourists that came in on Sunrise Airlines Flight 88. Yeah. That's when everything just....stopped. The killings, the ninjas. The news suddenly stopped talking about it. Luna also disappeared after this. Never saw her again. Given how she was hellbent on finding out who killed her brother, she probably ended up dead. You know how many people die unnoticed and unmourned in New York, especially back then? A lot. It's almost too much to comprehend, especially with so many people in one place. I still wonder what happened to her...**

The Japanese government remains tight lipped on the identities of those involved in the above incidents. Further research is required to find out more about who, or what was involved in the New York spree.

From the files of Lt. Richard Williams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And yes, the events in LA were overlooked. Compared to the New York episode, what appeared to be a freak storm in the middle of Chinatown? That's not newsworthy. Especially if the locals are all too aware of Shikaisen and his profession...


	2. Hello, world!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seiji Date wakes up.  
>  _Seiji Date wakes up._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BGM: Final Fantasy 6 Death on the Snowfield OC ReMix- AmIEvil
> 
> Yes, it's short.

A dark city, the lights illuminating people walking down bright streets. He could just make out distant conversations amid the sounds of traffic and sirens. He fell into the sidewalk, sinking into a mess of wires and support rods before ending up in a familiar maze of tatami doors. Someone was calling to him.

Ah. This dream again. He'd been having it more often, recently.

Seiji Date stepped onto the worn wooden floor, not at all surprised when the scene shifted into a dark stone tunnel. He already knew what laid ahead. He'd seen it before, after all. He was bound to a metal pentagram, wires connecting himself to flashing lights and quiet beeps. Voices murmured nearby, the sound of a mug slamming onto a beaten old desk that had seen better days. If he looked at the entrance, disembodied mouths opened and shut in an endless chant.

He was dreaming. He knew this.

Seiji's eyes opened, and he slowly sat up, stretching before getting out of the futon and getting ready for the day. There were kendo lessons to prepare for.

Seiji's eyes opened, and he slid off of the pentagram, wires popping out of his body with audible snaps as he made his way to the tunnel entrance. There was a flicker, and he was gone.

Outside, the labyrinth went on forever, full of chattering voices and disembodied shadows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A hint of the plot appears.


	3. Layer: 00

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our heroes are introduced. A tidbit is learned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What does the Digital World sound like?  
> [Phantom Terrains](https://phantomterrains.com/)
> 
> BGM: The Son of Flynn, Daft Punk, TRON: Legacy (Jason), You're Gonna Go Far, Kid, The Offspring (Rachel)

April 15, 2012

“I wonder if there's a plan for LA in case of alien invasion.” Rachel remarked, idly chewing on her taco and gesturing towards the distant cityline.

“Pretty sure every city has one of those now.” Jason responded, not looking up from his laptop. He absentmindedly reached for his burrito, and was a few inches off. Rachel shoved it towards him, and he promptly started unwrapping it.

  
“I'll have to ask Dad. So, what are you working on?” she asked, peeking over his shoulder. The screen was full of various windows and command prompts. In the corner, iTunes was playing that Japanese fight song he only played when he was stuck on something. Geki! Teikokukagekidan.

  
“I'm looking up old BASIC programs for computer games.” he answered, pulling up a webpage.

  
“It amazes me what you consider fun.” Rachel commented, stealing a fry. Jason ignored her.

  
“I want to make something like Wizardry.” he answered.

  
“Well, good luck with that.” She had played one of those games before. She kept dying and getting lost, and found the whole thing frustrating. When Jason had revealed that there was indeed a map function, she had just about lost it, and refused to play another dungeon crawler.

  
“They're not that bad once you get used to them. Usually.”

  
“Well, maybe someday.” The conversation was abruptly cut off by her phone vibrating. She fished it out of her jacket pocket, cursing as she nearly dropped it in the process. A nearby mother glared at her. The accompanying kid just kept playing his DS, in his own little world.  
“Yeah, Dad?”

  
“Honey, can you stop by the house? I got a call for a job, and it's one you can help with.”

  
“You need me to help look at something?” This was rare. She hadn't gone on a job with her dad in years.

  
“Yeah, got a call from Chinatown. They found an unclosed tunnel, and you're one of the only other people I can call for this kind of thing.”

  
“Well, I don't think Jay needs to be back home for a while yet.” she responded, looking over to her friend. He shut his laptop with a click, and put it in his bag.

  
“What is it?”

  
“Dad needs us to help with some exploration.”

  
“Oh.” A pause.“Just what does your dad _do_ , anyway?”

  
“He's a city consultant. Though he's compared himself to Carl Kolchak.” Rachel was nonchalant. Like it was no big deal.  
Jason thought about the one time he had been in her dad's home study. He was pretty sure city consultants didn't normally have shelves of books on folklore, mythology, and magical self defense alongside city codes and history.

  
“How do you spell that?” he asked, opening up Google on his phone. Rachel was rummaging in the pocket of her battered leather jacket for her car keys.

  
“K-O-L-C-H-A-K. That guy from _A Christmas Story_ was in it.”  
Reading the search results, Jason's eyebrows flew up his forehead. Well. At least her dad's study made more sense now. But wow. This was like a real life quest. He looked up at Rachel's back, the words KNIGHT SABERS scrawled in red on the back of her jacket. It had been a graduation gift from her parents several years ago. She wore it as often as she could get away with, which was often.  
Well, he could have a worse Fighter guarding him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Given the timestamp, you can guess which movie prompted Rachel's question. I imagine after Tokyo, there would be emergency plans for that kind of situation in major cities. Since LA's in fire/earthquake country, there's the additional wrinkle of natural disaster response planning...
> 
> For an idea of the kind of books got Jason interested in programming, there's a section here at [World of Spectrum](https://worldofspectrum.net/%22) that has PDFs of vintage books on the subject. _Arcade Explorers_ was a short lived "Choose Your Own Adventure" series that allowed you to,depending on the model computer you had, program a game based on the book as you read. You could skip these segments if you didn't have a computer. The writing for the stories is...not very good, but it's worth a look anyway.


	4. Consultant's Blues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Surprise POV chapter. As in, I didn't set out to write for Rachel's dad, and it turned out to be fun.
> 
> BGM: Silent Hill 2 StaticAversion OC Remix-Children of the Monkey Machine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know next to nothing about how the US army works. Feel free to make suggestions or bring up useful tidbits in the comments. Come to think of it, any local's information on LA, and the LA Chinatown would be appreciated.

Chinatown. There's been some weird stories from this part of LA in recent years. A contact on the LAPD has had a few reports about people wandering into some kind of labyrinth. It usually starts out the same way: they're walking through Chinatown, then they get to the crossroads by the cemetery and suddenly space warps around them.

A few have stated that wherever they were, it almost felt like something from a Kurosawa movie. Someone is mumbling something, and some witnesses identified the language as Japanese. But then they are led out by a mysterious figure, who never speaks a word. Some say it's someone in samurai style armor. Others say it's a cosplayer dressed as a magical girl. Still others say it's an ordinary looking girl. Any way, the stories all end with them blinking disorientedly at the lights of Chinatown as the labyrinth flickers out around them like a CRT tv being switched off.

So of course, Xinhua brought it up the last time I stopped by her import shop. “This is your kind of problem, yes?” she had said, going into full irritable dragon mode. “This is cutting into my business. It's no good if people are too scared to shop here.”

According to local rumors, a sorcerer used to live here some time ago. To this day, they don't want to talk about it. People who pissed him off had a tendency to disappear, or turn up dead in strange, frightening circumstances.

Xinhua was my daughter's age when the guy disappeared himself, and she remembers all too well how the neighborhood's response was to shun his property. Now, he is a memory, and the children consider him an urban legend, something to scare each other with. Of course, it was kids that uncovered the hidden passage in the graveyard. The fact that such a thing was so accessible, yet had been overlooked for so long was a concern. Myself, I thought of the stories from Europe about people wandering into tunnels and never being found. Kids like to explore. It isn't hard to see why this is concerning.

Which is why I invited Rachel and Jason on this little expedition. I haven't taken Rachel along on a job for years. Having a little girl with you is useful when you're helping someone discern if their house is really haunted, especially when you need the kids out of the way so you can investigate. But for the other things? Appeasing ghosts, uncovering old injustices, and negotiating with otherworldly beings to help the everyday people caught up in it all? No. I wasn't going to drag my daughter into that.

So when she started her urban exploration hobby, I insisted she always have someone with her. Always let people know where you're going, and how long you're expecting to be gone. Always carry a cell phone, flashlight, and other assorted items. I don't know how she dragged Jason into this, but he apparently took to this activity with gusto, carrying a notebook to map out their adventures. Kid has guts, I'll give him that. You need that in uncharted territory.

I never saw this as a career. Hell, until Shinjuku, I never thought that this stuff was actually _real_. There I was, going into a city that by all accounts, was normally full of life and crowded with the sounds of people going about their lives. There was none of that there. The place was like a goddamn graveyard. Buildings were burned and partially destroyed, the streets were empty of anything alive, and there were the goddamn samurai. We couldn't shoot the fuckers, because nothing more technical than a sword worked. It was like going into one of those haunted houses that pops up at Halloween, except the people working there wanted to kill us. My squad's numbers dwindled as we made our way back to the world of the living. Walking into that airport and seeing Laura holding Rachel was the first time I knew for sure that I was still alive after that. I left active service afterwards. I needed the space. More importantly, I needed my family.

*break*

Richard looked over to the table, where his daughter was looking over their kit. He had insisted on glowsticks as backup for the flashlights, and she was chatting with Jason about how much use they could get out of them in a dark place. Rachel was commenting on them (hopefully)not igniting gas leaks, while Jason was responding about the ability to read and write in the dark. Rachel was putting on her leather gauntlets and lacing up her boots, while Jason was testing the head lamps and adjusting his knee pads.

“Alright, troops!” he announced, startling them greatly. “Are we ready?”

“Sir, yes sir!” Rachel grinned, snappily saluting him. Jason adjusted his glasses and nodded determinedly.

“Then let's move out!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And yes, there's going to be an eventual sidestory about Richard's time in Tokyo. He was stationed in Okinawa when this all went down, so those were the US troops that got involved. I imagine that without any real way to communicate without drawing attention to oneself, there were several groups of SDF and US Army troops wandering around occupied Tokyo. But to convey what it came across as, there's this delightful short film: [Chicken Man and Red Neck](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc7Ygt45ZOw), from the anthology film Robot Carnival. Which, like Samurai Troopers, is streaming via Retrocrush.


	5. Far Shout: A Distant Cry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The chamber is breached.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BGM: Closer Look, John Barry, The Black Hole; Access (2.0 Ver.) Kenji Kawai, Ghost in the Shell 2.0 Original Soundtrack  
> Loop1 Vol1 (Opening), Chikayo Fukuda, .hack//Game Music Perfect Collection
> 
> [The Black Hole Soundtrack playlist](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk5ivnULvlE&list=PL6E0CF10EC8D5F17D) This soundtrack has been described as 'James Bond meets HP Lovecraft", and it is one of the neatest scores from a Disney movie. The movie is worth the watch, mainly because it's so damn WEIRD for Disney. Long story short, their answer to Star Wars, their first 'adult' movie (read: their first PG movie), and one of their only scifi films. It is also the only Disney remake I plan on seeing whenever it comes out. 
> 
> Chapter title is the name of the end song for Serial Experiments Lain.

It's dark. This is expected. Rachel adjusted her mask and looked up at the ceiling. Thanks to the circle of light her headlamp provided, the surface was shown to have a spattering of mold. Great.

“Be careful, there's water.” Dad called from the other side of the door. Well, that explained that. But fuck, that would be an unpleasant way to go. There was a curse. “Looks like there's something at the bottom.”

“Can you reach it?” Rachel asked, making her way past what looked like a half burned, overturned desk. Or a table. Hm. The walls were scorched. Had there been a fire? Jason had one of the mini fire extinguishers... The scattered, mildewy papers on the floor could possibly be a fire hazard. Hm. A notebook. It looked intact...

“Nope, not going to. I'd have to dive, and I don't like the looks of the water. Hm. Looks like cloth, or something...I don't like the way it's weighed down.” Her dad sounded disturbed. Wait, where was Jason? He hadn't said anything since they first entered the chamber.

There was a terrible squealing sound, that rose in pitch.

“Oh. My. God. Oh my god OHMYGOD!”

That...was not terror. That was the sound Jason made when he stumbled across something relevant to his interests, which were rather...technical and borderline, to be honest. What the _hell_ was down here that would make him react like this? It sounded like he was jumping up and down in his excitement. Which, knowing him, he probably was. With all the rubble around, this really wasn't the place for it... Wait. Was that a bloodstain?

Rachel knelt down on the dirty floor. It really did look an awful lot like blood... the old army knife lying nearby did absolutely nothing to help improve the image.

“We have possible blood.” she called, looking over her shoulder to the rough area where her dad was. In the shadows, it was hard to see. The slight fog wasn't helping, either. She kept thinking that things were moving in it.

“Really?” Jason asked. She could hear footsteps from his part of the room. Good, sounded like he was off of his little high, there.

 _“RACHEL!”_ Her dad sounded panicked. Jason swore. And sounded like he was still across the room.

Rachel looked up to see what he was shouting about, and froze.

“Fuck!”

Violet eyes stared down from the white porcelain mask.

**POV: Jason**

"Holy, this is a souped up Sun SparcStation!" The casing was singed, and it looked like the wiring had been yanked out of it. From what he could see, it looked like they led to the watery area where Mr. Williams was investigating.

“Can you retrieve anything from this?” Mr. Williams asked, sidling past an overturned chair towards him. He gestured toward the ruined supercomputer.

“Probably not.” Jason responded, pulling his toolkit out of his bag. “The damp, the lack of power, an obsolete OS, the fact that this looks like it was SET ON FIRE...there's a lot of reasons we probably _aren't_ going to retrieve anything from the damn thing.” Nevertheless, he started attempting to unscrew the casing.

"You don't like this either, do you?” Mr. Williams shook his head, kneeling next to the computer to pick up a piece of debris.

“Nope. This place gives me the willies.” Jason answered, grunting as he managed to yank the siding off. “I like dungeon crawlers, but this feels too real. You know? Like we're actually in something from a video game.”

“I know the feeling. Hey, does this look like a pentagram to you?”

“What?” Jason turned, confused at the sudden change of topic. Mr. Williams was indeed holding up a metal framework that looked rather beaten up. At least he was wearing gloves. The damned thing looked like holding it would warrant a tetanus shot. “Yeah. Yeah,it does.” He adjusted his glasses, and leaned closer, frowning. “Are those... _restraints?_ ” Mr. Williams grimaced as he took a closer look.

"Looks like it." He looked down at the floor. Tangled amongst the wires were... "I think I see electrodes." Jason looked down at his feet. Yep. That's what they looked like.

"Okay. This place has _officially_ gone into bad juju territory."

“We have possible blood.” Rachel called out from the other side of the room.

“Really?” Jason winced. This really didn't sound good. He wasn't sure he wanted to know what had happened here, with what they were finding. He looked over, and froze. There was a crash, as Mr. Williams threw the pentagram aside, before rushing forwards.

 _“RACHEL!”_ There was pure panic in his voice.

"Shit!" Yep, they were now in horror movie territory.

There was a... _thing_ standing over her. It looked like a figure in colorful armor, with a horned mask. And it was holding a sword. She was kneeling on the ground, she couldn't get up in time to get away.

“FUCK!” she screamed. Her arm was scrabbling on the ground for something, and the figure's head flew back as something made impact. The creature wavered as she got to her feet and backed away, trying to make her way towards them without falling on her ass due to debris.

“That's it, we're all going to die down here.” Jason groaned. It was looking at them now, it was looking at them and twitching like a bad satellite signal as it held up that corrupted looking sword and _lurched_ at them. Mr. Williams had picked up a table leg and was rushing it, but he wouldn't make it in time. Jason grabbed a screwdriver, holding it like a dagger as he ran with him. Rachel was...what was she doing?

Rachel braced herself, clenched her fists, and _charged_ at it. Something shattered at her feet as she jumped backwards.

Had she just... _punched_ it in the face? The part of Jason that wasn't screaming in terror noted that this was her standard solution to a lot of problems. She'd gotten in trouble for it several times in school. Mr. Williams let out a groan.

The figure wobbled, sinking to its knees. Now that the mask was gone, it looked like a boy. The armor shattered into a mist of ones and zeroes, leaving behind what appeared to be green and white underarmor. There was a buzzing sound as he seemed to blink in and out of existence.

He held his hands to his head, and _screamed_. It echoed with static.

“What do we do?” Jason asked, feeling concerned despite himself. Mr. Williams looked upset as he walked forward, standing beside Rachel.

“What's your name?” he asked. The blonde boy looked up at him, eyes wide. He knelt down in front of him. “You can tell me. We can help you.”

“Sei-” There was a horrible screeching sound, and his voice stuttered like a skipping record. “Sei-Se ** _i-Seij-Seij-_** ” Rachel reached out her hand and put it on his shoulder.

“Sage, huh?”

“Rachel, what are you doing?” Mr. Williams sounded concerned. Jason didn't blame him.

“I dunno, but it feels like the right thing to do.” she answered, before turning back to the boy.

“Sage, my name is Rachel. This is my dad Richard, and the guy over there is Jason. Can you tell us why you're here?”

“I...I don't know. I've...I've always been here.” He looked around at their surroundings. Despite the sporadic light from the headlamps, he seemed to have no problem with the dark. "At least, I _think_ I have. I go out from time to time, though."

"It's not very cozy, is it?" Rachel remarked, wincing.

**POV: Richard**

All Richard could think was, _Oh god, my daughter's adopting this thing. She is seriously considering bringing it home. Laura's gonna be furious._

**POV: Rachel**

_This guy has been down here for a ridiculously long time. Alone. Human or not, this place smells like something died in it and is frankly, a goddamn mess._

"How about you come with us?" She asked. It'd be easier to keep an eye on him this way. Coming to the city itself was a pain in the ass on a good day, and she really didn't want to stay here any longer than necessary. "We've got a spare room at home."

"You'd really do that?" Kid had a deep voice for a teenager. There was a bit of an echo to it. It almost reminded her of one of those Vocaloid things. She nodded.

"Sure. You deserve an actual bed, at least." Rachel looked over at her Dad. He was probably thinking the same thing she was about security. "Keeping Sage close will make it easier to learn about him."

"Fine, but we're both going to be in trouble with your mother for this." Dad had that look on his face when he knew he was in trouble either way.

"I'll do my best not to be a problem for you." Sage bowed politely to him. The hell. Kid has good manners, at least.

"Oh, there's a notebook over there that looks like it might be important. Can you get it?" shed asked, looking at her dad with concern. "I think the ka-bar went over there too."

"A ka-bar, Rachel?"

"Yeah, it was over by the bloodstain."

 _"Jesus."_ Dad ran his hand over his face.

"It ended up coming in useful." It did make a good impromptu projectile. _I was just lucky it didn't bounce off Sage's mask and stab **me** in the face._

"Oh god." From his tone, Dad had realized this too. Well, she couldn't blame him.

"Um..." Jason interrupted. He was fidgeting. "Can I at least see about removing the CPU and disk drive before we go?"

No one noticed the shards that were once a mask fading. Or the figure in purple that slid back into the shadows as they left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...I really need to watch Gaiden again. And it's hard to convey visual effects like glitching and stuttering in words.  
> [This music video should help convey the mood, at least. And yes, it's that song from that one Superbowl commercial.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di60NYGu03Y)


	6. Interlude: Somewhere Between One and Zero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 01001001 01101110 01101001 01110100 01101001 01100001 01101100 01101001 01111010 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 00100000
> 
> [Binary to Text](https://binarytotext.net)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No BGM here.

Laura was indeed furious, especially when she found out that Sage had been living in what Jason described as 'an abandoned torture chamber' for god knew how long. Richard just sighed and helped clear out the guest bedroom. He knew this was a terrible idea, and yet... he felt that this was the right thing to do, nonetheless. Grandpa had always told him to trust that little voice that sometimes popped up in the back of his head. Lord knew it had helped him survive Shinjuku.

“This is my old CD player.” Rachel was saying. It was silver and blue, a color scheme that tugged at (not his) memory. “You can use it to listen to the radio or play CDs. Here's some of mine.” He took the offered stack with a confused expression.

The names were strange. Green Day, Beastie Boys, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple...

“There are a lot of colors.” he observed.

“Oh, some of these are Dad's.” she answered. “He says Uncle David took him to see these guys,” she held up the Led Zeppelin CD, “in concert at the Forum when he was a kid.”

Sage just stared. It was kind of unnerving. Rachel decided to change the subject.

“Okay, I'll show you how to work this. It's easy. Jason, can you help me move the dresser?”

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Laura was having a conversation with her husband.

“Richard, do you know what he is?” she asked quietly. Richard shook his head, and crossed his arms across his chest, leaning back against the sink.

“No. I don't. But back there... god, Laura, it was like Shinjuku all over again. Something in armor standing over Rachel with intent to kill. Except it was _real_ this time.”

“Is he dangerous?”

“Yes. There's no getting around that. So just...” He thought for a second. “Be careful. If he acts erratically, call me. If you ever feel unsafe around him, let me know, and try to get yourself out of there. If he is like those things in Shinjuku...”

“Oh, honey.” Laura stepped up and gave him a gentle hug. “I'll do my best. It's all we can do, in the end.”

Jason still felt weird about the whole thing when he got back to his apartment. It had been one thing to go into abandoned structures, another thing to run into the occasional homeless person in the dark, and that memorable instance with the bear, but this? This was something else entirely.

He got to the drawer that held all the older USB cords, and began digging around. He'd need something for an older model, attach an adapter, connect it to that cheap laptop...

Shit. He'd have to disable the wifi. He had a disturbing feeling that if anything was actually still on that hard drive, it wasn't something that should get onto the internet. Just to be safe, he pulled out his toolbox, and began the process of removing the casing to remove the wireless card.

The guest bedroom was...cozy. There was a pile of boxes in the far corner, and the curtain rod was crooked on the window. He got up and fixed it. It would bother him otherwise. When that was done, he turned to the bookcase.

Judging from the titles, the majority of the books were fantasy and science fiction. The spines were worn and broken in, obviously well read. He took a purple one and looked at the cover.

“Mort?” That was a word for death. Something flashed behind his eyes, a man with a ringed staff, wearing a very distinctive hat. The clothing looked strange, like something from-what?

Sage didn't know anyone like that. He filed it away for future thought, and walked over to the dusty bed with the blue striped comforter to read.

He'd listen to the CD labeled Green Day later. Maybe it would help him sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoiler alert: It doesn't help him get to sleep.


End file.
